Plans for a new Swedish factory producing military gunpowder are moving forward. The Wallenberg-owned company Verkan has submitted an environmental permit application to the Land and Environment Court, aiming to start production in 2028.
The planned facility will be built in Björneborg, Värmland. Once fully developed, the factory is expected to create around 450 jobs and become one of the country’s largest investments in the defense industry.
According to the permit application, the factory is planned to have the capacity to produce more than 1,000 tons of gunpowder per year. Operations are intended to run around the clock and will require an electricity supply of up to 300 megawatts. This is reported by Dagens industri.
Additionally, around 70 truck transports to and from the facility are expected each week. The actual quantities of gunpowder to be produced are, however, not disclosed for security reasons.
The background to the initiative is an ambition to strengthen Sweden’s supply preparedness. Currently, there is only one major manufacturer of military gunpowder in the country, Eurenco Bofors in Karlskoga, which is owned by the French state.
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Instead, Verkan wants to establish a Swedish production chain where raw materials are sourced from the domestic forest industry. The company plans to use cellulose from Swedish wood pulp instead of cotton cellulose, which is currently mostly imported from China.
Former Supreme Commander Involved
The company is owned by FAM/Wallenberg Investments. The board includes several well-known names from Swedish business and the defense sector, among them Marcus Wallenberg, former Saab CEO Håkan Buskhe, and former Supreme Commander Micael Bydén.
The project has also received support through a collaboration with the state-owned forestry company Sveaskog, which owns the land where the factory is planned to be built. The parties recently signed a letter of intent regarding the continued development of the area.
The gunpowder factory is part of the Wallenberg sphere’s increased investments in strategically important operations. Over the past year, the family’s companies have also strengthened their ownership in the green steel company Stegra, while highlighting the need for Europe to become more self-sufficient in critical industrial sectors and defense-related production.